Ipswich Town Go Down To Narrow Defeat

Queens Park Rangers manager Ian Holloway was obviously pleased that his side took all three points against Ipswich Town at Loftus Road yesterday, but he admitted that it was thanks to some poor officiating that they got their noses in front before the break.

‘We had a massive stroke of fortune where the referee should have seen a handball by Massimo Luongo,’ he explained.

‘We were on the halfway line and the ball popped up off Mass – I think he`s just moved it with his hand past the bloke it was going to hit, and I thought I could see the movement and thought the fourth official should have seen it, and he should have the power to tell the referee. I`d be fuming if I were Mick McCarthy,’ he continued.

Up until the goal Town held their own and looked quite solid at the back and balanced going forward but that diabolical refereeing decision seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Blues.

QPR extended their lead early in the second half when the Town defence switched off and if it had not been for Polish keeper Bartosz Bialkowski the margin of defeat could have been even greater, as he pulled off a string of important saves.

I believe manager Mick McCarthy was far too slow in introducing Bersant Celina, as our attack looked toothless for the most part.

Radio Suffolk’s football analyst, former Blues captain Mick Mills made some very astute observations and pointed out that both Joe Garner and Martyn Waghorn struggled to make any kind of impact. He was also critical of David McGoldrick for finding himself far too often in offside positions and he had another stinker of a game.

There was one highlight though and it came late on, when Manchester City loanee Bersant Celina accepted a short pass from Jonas Knudsen, before single-handedly producing a goal out of nothing and to the delight of the blue and white army.

There seemed to be no immediate danger when he got the ball but then he jinked past two Rangers defenders and then made space for himself in the box, before unleashing an unstoppable strike that left Smithies in the QPR goal helpless as the ball flew into the top left hand corner of the net.

Town then finally woke up and pressed for an unlikely equalizer and it almost came through another substitute Tom Adeyemi, who tried to control the ball deep inside the Rangers box but only managed to fire over the crossbar from close range.

Another bit of encouragement for Town was the debut of Callum Connelly at right back. He settled in very well and was involved in the action from the first moment to the last, with some tenacious tackling that clearly impressed our away following.

Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich